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• Bishop Eric launches book
• Visiting their ‘roots’
• St Stephen’s empowers its leaders
• Register for TEE now
• Praying for the CPSA
Bishop Eric launches book  Our former,now retired bishop, Eric Pike, was in Port Elizabeth on Thursday night 5 May to launch his book “Who do you say I am?” It is his personal response to Jesus’ question.
About 80 people attended the launch held at St John’s Church hall and hosted by the rector, Robert Penrith. In introducing Eric, Robert spoke of his journey alongside this ‘humble evangelist and man of God.’ He said, “I met Bishop Eric in my first year at Theological College in Grahamstown when the student body was divided up into modules for ministry and training. I was allocated to the Mdantsane module which would travel to Mdantsane and the resettlement communities of Upper and Lower Potsdam, and others. We arrived at St Andrew’s, Mdantsane and were met by then Archdeacon Eric Pike and his fellow evangelist, Edward, who were doing amazing work in the East London district. I had heard of this wonderful evangelist Eric and, I guess, expected a rather loud and in your face evangelist person, but instead was greeted with the deepest warmth by this humble man.” Robert went on to speak of his joy on hearing that Eric had been consecrated Suffragan Bishop of Grahamstown some years later. He then continued by saying, “Of course not long after that we were privileged to have him elected as Bishop of Port Elizabeth and I have had the privilege and pleasure of learning from him and being nurtured by this amazing, humble man of God.” He also spoke of how he had enjoyed reading Eric’s book - which took him a day, because he could not put it down!
Robert told of his journey with Eric into the exploration and experience of spirituality of the ancient Celtic Christians and said that over the past 12 years they have run retreats at Carmel just outside George.  Ending on a ‘lighter’ note saying, “As you know Bishop Eric has extraordinarily “big feet” and I am not just talking about the size of his feet – I am also talking about the person who fills those feet. Eric is a giant of a man in God’s scheme of things.”
Eric then spoke about his journey into writing the book which he said came out of a series of talks he gave at St Paul’s in Parsons Hill a few years into his retirement. He gave the background to some of the chapters, each of which looks at his personal journey through the question Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” He added what a joy it had been to have the family encouraging him, with daughters, Natalie, having done the illustrations and Regan helping with the proof reading.
Copies of the book are available at a cost of R120 each from the diocesan office, or from Mary’s bookshop at St Saviour’s or St John’s in Walmer. iindaba hopes to have a review of the book next month.
Pic: Top - Bp Eric signs copies of his book for Victor Ntshilngila and Nomawethu and David Molema.
Bottom - Jill Smith, Eric Kleb and Tim Douglas-Jones.
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Visiting their ‘roots’
[ Yvonne Saunders ]  Retired priest Richard Taylor, with his wife, Glenda, visited St Barnabas in Sydenham on Sunday 1 May when all our priests were at St Philip’s church with Bishop Bethlehem. For them it was a nostalgic return to their roots because they had been part of the St Barnabas parish for many years. Richard had been a server and he was confirmed at St Barnabas’, where he later married Glenda. She was the Parish secretary and she also sang in the choir for many years. Richard became a lay minister (formerly known as a sub-deacon) and in 1995 he was ordained to the ministry together with our present rector, David Grobbelaar and former rector Gary Griffith-Smith.
It was a pleasure to have them with us at St Barnabas, and many memories were recalled.
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St Stephen’s empowers its leaders
[ Melissa Awu ]  Leadership has been described as: “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership
Over 40 members of executives from Wards at St Stephen’s were put through a Leadership Course – facilitated by the talented, well respected and fully accredited Liziwe Thipa, CEO of Yahluka Management and Consulting Services and whose husband, Prof Henry Thipa, is churchwarden at St Stephen’s.
Ward leaders have the task of leading the people in their respective wards – and leading any group is not as easy as it looks. This course was designed by Liziwe to assist them in their task. She has vast experience in the field of Group Dynamics having worked with the Engcobo Municipality, Great Kei Municipality, Makana Municipality and Kou Kamma Municipality. This gives her enough knowledge to educate the seniors from the church.
The Modules covered were: Introduction to Group Dynamics, Introduction to Conflict Management, Introduction to Verbal Communication Skills, Building Relationships, Goal Setting and Enhancement of Driver Behaviour. Chatting to students who went through the course, they praised Liziwe for her style of facilitating and her patience. It was hugs and tears as the certificates were handed over – yes, tears – not because there were failures in the course, but tears of joy! There was a certain student, who had come to the course walking with the help of a walking stick – by the time the course was over, she didn’t need the walking stick … Could it be Liziwe is also a healer? It might just be the content of the course that makes one feel renewed and refreshed to take on the world (with or without a walking stick) with the new qualification.
The rector, Zweli Tom, had preached about giving the week before and Liziwe offered to give up her Public Holiday (21 March) and kindly donate the training for free. She is one of the angels we have at St Stephens, who continuously give kindly of their time and talents. St Stephens has only God to thank for people like her at the church.
Pic: Some of St Stephen’s Ward leaders holding their certificates. The rector, Zweli Tom, and Course facilitator, Liziwe Thipa in the centre.
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Register for TEE now
[ Howard Lancaster ] If you are thinking of studying to equip yourself for Christian ministry or to grow in your understanding of the Christian faith, you can begin right now!
The Theological Education by Extension College (TEEC) offers a mid-year registration for the course “Developing Skills for Theological Study”. This half-year course is a required part of both the Diploma in Theology and Ministry, and the Bachelor of Theology programmes offered by TEEC, and is best taken before you begin other courses.
TEE College has seven member churches: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa, the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa, the Roman Catholic Church, the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa, the Salvation Army in Southern Africa, and of course our own Anglican Church of Southern Africa.
Being part of such a broad-based college ensures a rich learning experience, as together we seek to discern how God desires us to live out our Christian faith and witness in Southern Africa.
Registration for this course closes on 15 June. and forms are available from:
the Revd Mike McCoy Tel: 041 364 0902 and the Revd Howard Lancaster Tel: 041 360 3581.
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Praying for the CPSA In the special prayers for the Evening Eucharist of the Lord’s Supper on Maundy Thursday, at least one lay minister in this diocese prayed for “the Church of the Province of Southern Africa and for Thabo our metropolitan,” (An Anglican Prayer Book page 186). At least he did pray for Thabo our Metropolitan, and not Njongonkulu as some still do!
It would seem that the lay minister has not changed his copy of APB to read the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and it looks as if he hadn’t prepared ahead for the service.
But, it becomes even scarier when one checks the newest publication of the English version of our APB – on the cover the name is correct … but, turn to page 186 and behold, we are still the CPSA! It is costly to change the name of a church (company, town etc) and when it is done someone needs to be tasked to make sure that every reference to the former name is changed, too. [ Back to top ] Quick Links: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Top | Homepage |
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